update

Had a more chilled 12 hours after a crazy 24 hours - lot of food for thought, which I'm going to share with you as blogs are supposed to be warts and all. Publish and be damned, etc.
First of all the wonderful Thai/Chinese girl either stood me up or there was a miscommunication, for vanity's sake I'm going for the latter (it's possible her English was poor, my Thai obviously non-existant, and she volunteered her no rather than being asked for it), but truthfully I think it's the other.
So last night went drinking with a sound guy from Bristol. He's been here a while and was far more adept at spotting ladyboys than me - until now I've only really spotted the bad drag queens the truth, as he explained, is they are more prevalent and often better disguised.. the truth is fightening. He also thinks, and I have no reason to doubt him, that about 80% of girls in Khao Sarn Road are prostitutes. We then both met girls and I was paranoid - how do you ask 'By the way, are you on the game?'. Anyway - I wish I could put restrictions on who reads this - she wasn't, neither was she or ever had been part-Norris, part-Doris - however, she was crazy, and I don't have her number nor would I want it. It also occurs to me that even Thai girls who are not prostitutes might latch onto Western guys as a means to a better life, and you can be in danger of being no better than the old Western men who wonder around with Thai women half their age, it's not something I really want to dwell on as I think it's a grey area with no easy answers, but as I say, it has occured to me.
Also, the US, tattoo'd, tut-tut scam afficionado (previous post), now thinks we're best friends and is leaching on, trying to get me to buy, or help scam, him drinks... so I'm hiding from a Yank guy and a crazy Thai girl and trying to get some normality back into my life.
Which brings us to today. In the hope of avoiding said fiends, I walked all the way to the nearest train station to book my ticket for Chang Mai - apparently it's a monestry haven, could be just the ticket - it was a several hour walk and gave me a chance to wonder through genuine Thai streets. There are several things to love about real Thailand - great food, from noodles and stir-fried meat and veg to fresh fruit, stored in ice, sold everywhere, to little market stores, and the people themselves who are unbelieveably friendly when not affected by tourism. So it was good.
Incidentally, as I've mentioned in previous posts, in Chang Mai I have a rather strange 'Life Improvement' press trip, acquired in my role as part time travel writer, full time blagger. I received an email yesterday from the organiser saying that part of the programme is a kind of counselling session where I am supposed to talk about 'personal issues'! Oh my days...